XXXII. And when the last end of Mosheh the prophet was at hand, that he should
be gathered from among the world, he said in his heart: I will not attest
against this people with witnesses that taste of death in this world, behold,
I attest against them with witnesses which do not taste of death in this world,
and whose destination is to be renewed in the world to come. Isaiah the prophet,
when he prophesied in the congregation of Israel, attributed hearing to the
heavens, and attentiveness to the earth; because (in his case) earth was nearest
and heaven more remote: but Mosheh the prophet, when he now prophesied in
the congregation of Israel, attributed hearing to the earth, and attentiveness
to the heavens; because (in his case) heaven was nearest and earth more remote;
forso it is written, Attend, ye heavens,
and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the wordsof my mouth. My doctrine shall smitethe rebellious like heavy rain; but shall be
enjoyed with pleasantness by those who receive instruction, as the dew: my
words shall be like the downfalling rain of the wind that breathes upon the
grass in the month of Marchesvan, and as the droppings of the latter rain
which water the springing herbage of the earth in Nisan.

[JERUSALEM. When the end of Mosheh came that he should be removed from the
world, he said: Behold, I testify in this world a thing which tasteth not
of death; so will I attest against them the heavens and earth which taste
not of death in this world, but whose end is to be consumed in the world that
cometh. For so he explained, and said: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and
consider the earth beneath; for the heavens shall dissolve like smoke, and
the earth fade away as a garment; but I have prepared to create new heavens
and a new earth. Isaiah the prophet, when he prophesied in the congregation
of Israel, because he was remote from the heavens and nearest the earth, attributed
hearing to the heavens, and attention to the earth: for so be explaineth,
and saith: Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the Word of the Lord
hath spoken. Mosheh the prophet, &c. (as above.) The doctrine of my law
shall be sweet to the children of Israel as the rain, the word Of my mouth
will be received by them with pleasantness as the dew, as the wind which breathes
upon the herb, and as the drops of the latter rain that descend and water
the herbage of the ground in Nisan.]

Woe to the wicked who make memorial of the Holy Name with blasphemies. Wherefore
Mosheh, who was the Doctor of Israel, would not permit himself to pronounce
the Holy Name until he had dedicated his mouth at the beginning of his hymn
with eighty and five letters, making twenty and one words, and afterwards
be spake: In the Name of the Lord I invoke you, O house of Israel, to ascribe
glory and greatness before our God. [JERUSALEM. Mosheh the prophet said: Woe to the wicked who make memorial of the Holy
Name with blasphemies. For it is not possible even to one of the highest angels
to utter that Name rightly until that they have said, Holy, Holy, Holy thrice.
And from them did Mosheh learn not to utter that Name openly until he should
have dedicated his mouth with twenty‑one words which consist of eighty-five
letters;[1] and so explained he and said: Hear,
ye heavens, and I will speak; for it is the Name of the Lord. Mosheh the prophet
said: O people of Israel, I invoke you, in the Name of the Lord, to give glory,
praise, and highest exaltation unto God.]

Mosheh the prophet said:
When I ascended the mountain of Sinai, I beheld the Lord of all the worlds,
the Lord, dividing the day into four portions; three hours employed in the
law, three with judgment, three in making marriage bonds between man and woman,
and appointing to elevate or to abase, arid three hours in the care of every
created thing: for so it is written: The Mighty One whose works are perfect,
for all His ways are judgment, a faithful God before whom no iniquity comes
forth, pure and upright is He. [JERUSALEM. (The same words to) three hours, uniting the marriage
yoke of the husband to the wife . . . . a faithful God and true; falsehood
is not before Him; He is just and upright in judgment.]

The beloved children
have corrupted their good works, a blemish is found upon them; a perverse
generation which have altered their works; so shall the order of this world's
judgment be altered upon them. [JERUSALEM. The children have corrupted their
works, and not them only, but themselves also: they have so corrupted that
the spot is upon them; a depraved and perverse generation which changeth its
order of this world shall be changed upon it.]

Canyou indeed so requite the Name
of the Word of the Lord, O foolish people, and receive the law, yet not be
made wise? Is He not your Father who bought[2] you, who created you and established
you? [JER. Do you return this before the Lord, O people foolish and unwise?
Is He not your Father who is in heaven, who bought you? He created and founded
you.] Remember the days of old; consider the years of every generation; read
the books of the law, and they will teach you, and the books of the prophets,
and they will tell you. [JER. Be mindful of the days, the days of old, consider
the years of one generation and another; ask your fathers who are greater
in the law than you, and they will teach you, the sages, and they will tell
you.] When the Most High made allotment of the world unto the nations which
proceeded from the sons of Noach, in the separation of the writings and languages
of the children of men at the time[3] of the division, He cast the lot among
the seventy angels, the princes of the nations with whom is the revelation
to oversee the city, even at that time He established the limits of the nations
according to the sum of the number of the seventy souls of Israel who went
down into Mizraim. [JER. When the Most High divided the nations by lot, and
distinguished the languages of the children of men, He appointed the bounds
of the peoples according to the number of the tribes of the Beni Israel.]

And when the holy people
fell to the lot of the Lord of all the world, Michael opened his lips and
said: Let the good portion of the Name of the Lord's Word be with Him. Gabriel
opened his lips with thanksgivings, and said, Let the house of Jakob be the
lot of His inheritance. [JER. Because the Lord's portion are His people, and
the house of Jakob the lot of His inheritance.] He found them dwelling in
the wilderness, in the solitude, the place of howling demons and thorns, the
place of thirsting; He overspread them with His seven glorious clouds; He
taught them His law; He kept them as the Shekinah keepeth the apple of His
eye. [Jer. He found them wandering in a desert land, in the solitude of a
howling wilderness; He threw over them clouds of glory; His Shekinah taught
them the Ten Words, watched over them, and kept them as the apple of His eye.]
As an eagle stirreth up and careth for his nest, and hovereth over his young,
so did His Shekinah stir up the tents of Israel, and the shadow of His Shekinah
overspread them; and as an eagle outstretcheth his wings over his young ones,
beareth them and carrieth them upon his wings, so bare He them and carried
them, and made them dwell upon the strong places of the land of Israel. [JER.
As an eagle stirreth up his nest, and carefully spreadeth out his wings, and
taketh and beareth them with the strength of his wings.] The Word of the Lord
made them to dwell in His land, nor suffered any among them to be the followers
of strange worship. [JER. The Lord alone caused them to dwell, and none were
among them who served with strange worship.] He made them to dwell in the
strong places of the land of Israel,

and gave them to eat
of the goodly produce of His field, and nourished them with the honey of its
fruits which grow even upon the rocks with the oil of its olive trees, and
from branches (growing) out of the rocks. [JER. He made them ride upon the
high places of the earth, and gave them to eat of royal delicacies, and nourished
them with honey out of the rock, and with oil from their olives (growing)
out of the flinty stone of the rock.] He gave them rich butter of kine from
the spoil of their kings, and the fat of the firstlings of the sheep from
the prey of their sultans, with the choice rams and goats of the flocks of
Mathnan. Mosheh the prophet said: If the people of Israel will observe the
precepts of the law, it is foretold that their wheat granary shall be like
the kidneys of oxen, and that from one bunch of grapes shall come forth a
kor of red wine. [JER. Tender oxen and choice flocks, goodly fatlings, rams
bred in Batenaia, and goats, with the richest of the wheat. Mosheh the prophet
said: If the children of Israel will observe the precepts of the law . . .
. from one bunch they shall drink a cup of wine.]

But the house of Israel
grew rich and wicked; they prospered muchand
possessed wealth, and forsook the worship of Eloah who created them, and provoked
Him to anger who redeemed them. They moved Him to jealousy with strange worship,
by their abominations they made Him angry. They sacrificed to idols, resembling
devils, in whom there is no profit, to idols which they had not known, new
gods lately made, with which your fathers had nothing to do; But the adorable
Strong One who created you have you forgotten; of the word of Eloha who strengthened
you so often[4] have you been forgetful. And when it
was manifest before the Lord, He was wroth, provoked thereto by His beloved
children who were called upon His Name son and daughters. [JER. But the house
of Jeshuron ate and kicked; they became rich, and rebelled; they prospered,
got wealth, and forsook the Word of God who had created them, and refused
to worship the Almighty who had redeemed them. They provoked Him to anger
with their idols, by their abominations they made Him wroth They sacrificed
to demons in whom is no stability,[5] idols which they had not known, lately
formed, which your fathers remembered not. The Almighty who created you ye
have forgotten, and have forsaken the Word of God who gave you to be, and
made you so many refuges. And it was manifest before the Lord, and He was
angry, because the beloved children had provoked Him, even they who were beloved
by Him as sons and daughters.] And He said, I will take away from them the
favour of My countenance; it will be seen what will be the end; for they are
a perverse generation, children who have not faith. They have made Me jealous
by that which is not God, they have angered Me by their vanities: I also will
provoke them to jealousy by a people which hath not been a people, by the
foolish Babylonian people will I provoke them. [JER. And He said, I will surely
turn away the favour of My countenance from them; I will see what will be
in their latter end; for they are a perverse generation, children in whom
is no faith. They have moved Me to jealousy by their idols in which there
is nothing whatever, they have provoked Me by their abominations; but I also
will move them to jealousy by a people which is not a people, by a foolish
nation will I anger them.] For an east wind strong as fire shall go out before
Me, and blaze in the might of My anger, and burn to the lowest hell; it shall
consume the land with its produce, and set the foundations of the mountains
in flame. [JER. For a fire shall come forth in the hour of My wrath, and burn
to the lowest hell, devouring the earth and its fulness, and setting in flame
the foundations of the hills.] And when they dwell in Babel they will serve
their idols; for I have spoken in My Word to array calamities against them,
the plague‑arrows of My vengeance to destroy them, I will make them
go into captivity in Media and Elam, in the captivity of Babel, the house
of Agag who are like demons gaping with famine, and to corpses devoured by
birds, and to stricken evil spirits of the noon, to Lillin and to spirits
big with evil. And the Javanaee (Greeks) who bite with their teeth like wild
beasts will I send against them, and will shake them by the hand of the Syrians
venomous as basilisks, the serpents of the dust. [JER. I have spoken in My
Word to bring evil upon them, the arrows of My vengeance will I send among
them: gaping with famine, devoured by unclean fowl, filled with evil spirits,
even the teeth of the four kingdoms, which are like wild beasts,[6] will I send among them, with the poison
of serpents, the reptiles of the earth.] A people who will come from beyond
the land of Israel shall consume them with the stroke of the sword, and those
who are left in the land of Israel will I throw into the terror of death,
in the chambers here and there where they sleep; their young men shall perish,
their maidens, their suck­lings, with their men and their elders. [JER.
In the street the sword will devour them; in the chambers where they sleep,
the terrors of death; their young men and maidens, their infants and aged
men.] I have spoken in My Word to withhold from them My Holy Spirit; I will
make them weak; as a man who reaps his field leaveth but one upon the ground,
so will I abolish their memory from the book of the genealogy of mankind;
[JER. I have spoken in My Word to bring wrath upon them, and to cause their
memorial to fail from among men;] but for the wrath of the enemy, and that
their oppressors would glorify themselves against Me, and say, Our hand hath
taken vengeance upon our adversaries, and all this hath not been decreed by
the Lord; for they are a people lost to good counsel and void of understanding.
O that they were intelligent in the law, and that they understood what they
will become in their latter end! How will one foe pursue a thousand of them,
and two put ten thousand of them to flight, unless He who is their strength
deliver them, and the Lord avenge them! [JER. But that the wrath of the enemy
would wax strong, that they could not prevail against their foes; and that
they may not say, Our hand hath avenged us on our adversaries, and it hath
not been done by the Lord; for this people perish by evil counsels, and they
are void of understanding. If Israel were but wise, learning the law they
would understand what shall be in their latter end. When Israel was diligent
in the law, and observed the commandments, one of them chased a thousand,
and two of them put ten thousand to flight; but because they have sinned and
vexed the Almighty to anger, He hath left them to the hand of their enemies.]

For the idols of the Gentiles are not as He who is the Strength of Israel;
for the Strength of Israel, when they have sinned, bringeth punishment upon
them; but when they stretch forth their hands in prayer, He answereth and
delivereth them. But, the idols of the peoples of strange worships are of
no use: but because we have provoked Him, and have not returned to His service,
our adversaries are our witnesses and our judges. [JER. For the confidence
of the nations is not as our confidence; but because we have sinned and provoked
Him to anger, our adversaries are made our judges.] For the works of this
people are like the works of the people of Sedom, and their evil counsels
like those of the people of Amorah; their wicked thoughts are as serpents
heads; bitter therefore to them is their punishment which maketh desolate.
Behold as the bitterness of serpents when they come forth from their wines,
(?) so shall be the bitter cup of the curse which they are to drink in the
day of their punishment, and cruel as the head of asps. [JER. For the works
of this people are like those of the people of Sedom, and their thoughts like
those of the people of Amorah: their evil works make them desolate, and become
bitter to them. For the poison of this people is like that Of serpents what
time they drink wine, and their malice like the head of asps and cruel reptiles.]
Are not their secret works all known before Me? Sealed and laid up Are they
in My treasury! Vengeance lies before Me, and I will recompense them at the
time when their foot shall move to the captivity; for the day of their destruction
is coming near, and the evil which is prepared for them maketh haste. [JER.
Is not this the cup of punishment, mixed and ordained for the wicked, sealed
in My treasuries for the day of the great judgment? Vengeance is mine: I am
He who repayeth; in the time when the foot of the righteous is moved; for
the day of destruction for the wicked is nigh the fire of Gehinam. is prepared
for them, and their punishment girdeth itself to come upon them.]

For the Word of the Lord adjudgeth in His mercy the jundgement of His people
Israel, and for the evil He hath appointed upon His servants there shall be
repentance before Him; for He knoweth that in the time when they have sinned
the stroke of their enemies will be heavy upon them, and help have passed
away from their hands, and the faithful will have failed with their good works
and be scattered and forsaken. And the enemy will say, Where is the fear of
Israel, their Strength in whom they confided, who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
and drank the wine of their libations? Let Him now rise up and help you, let
Him shield you by His Word. [JER. For the Lord Himself will adjudge the judgment
of the people of the children of Israel, and comfort His righteous servants;
for it is manifest before Him that the hand of the righteous will waver, and
that they will be forsaken and cast down, with none to help or support them.
For the Gentiles will say, Behold, the God of Israel is strong in whom they
put their trust; they brought before Him the fat of their sacrifices, and
the wine of their libations; let Him who (once) was over them as a shield
rise up now and deliver them.]

When the Word of the Lord shall reveal Himself to redeem His people, He will
say to all the nations: Behold now, that I am He who Am, and Was, and Will
Be, and there is no other God beside Me: I, in My Word, kill and make alive;
I smite the people of the Beth Israel, and I will heal them at the end of
the days; and there will be none who can deliver them from My hand, Gog and
his armies whom I have permitted to make war against them. [JER. See now that
I in My Word am He, and there is no other God beside Me. I kill the living
in this world, and make alive the dead in the world that cometh; I am He who
smiteth, and I am He who healeth; and there is none who can deliver from My
hand.] I have lifted My hand with an oath to heaven, and have said, As I exist,
I will not abolish My oath for ever. If I whet my sword, as lightning itwill prevail in the judgment of My hand. I will return retribution on
them who afflict My people, and repay to their enemies the hire of their wickedness.
I will make My arrows drunk with the blood of their slain, and the captivity
of their hosts shall be the punishment of My people's foes. [JER. For I have
uplifted My hand with an oath to heaven, and said, I live, and My Word subsisteth
for ever: If I whet My sword as lightning, My right hand will prevail in judgment.
I will render punishment upon the adversaries of My people, I will repay them
for their evil deeds. I will make My arrows drunk with their blood, and My
sword shall consume their flesh; with the blood of the destroyers of My people,
their captives, and the chieftains of their hosts.]

Rejoice,
ye nations, (and) ye people of Beth Israel; for the blood of His servants
which was shed, He hath avenged. He hath kept (in mind) and returned just
vengeance upon His adversaries, and by His Word will He make Atonement for
His land, and for His people. [JER. Let the nations give praise before Him,
let the people of Beth Israel glorify Him; for He bath made inquisition for
the trouble of His righteous servants, and brought vengeance upon His enemies;
for the sins of His people He smote the land; but He will make Atonement for
the land, and for His people.]

And Mosheh came from the tabernacle of the house of instruction, and spake
all the words of this hymn, in the hearing of the people, he and Jehoshua
bar Nun. And Mosheh made an end of speaking all these words with all Israel,
and said to them: Apply your heart to all the words with which I bear witness
to you this day, that you may dictate them to your children, so that they
may observe and do all the words of this law. For there is no vain word in
the law, unless to them who transgress it; for it is your life, and by this
word you will prolong days upon the land that you pass over Jordan to inherit.
[JER. And Mosheh came and spake all the praise of the words of this hymn in
the hearing of the people, be and Hoshea bar Nun. And Mosheh ended speaking
all these words with all Israel, and said to them: Set your heart unto all
the words with which I bear witness to you this day, and which you shall teach
your children, that they may observe and do all the glorious words of this
law. For it is not a vain word to you, because it is your life, and by this
word you will multiply days upon the land that you pass over Jordan to inherit.]

And the Lord spake with
Mosheh on the seventh of the month Adar, on the same day,

saying, It was when the
Word of the Lord had said to him, Go up to this mount Ibraee,

the mountain of Nebo,
and he thought in his heart, and said, Perhaps this up‑going will

be like that to Mount
Sinai; and he said, I will go and sanctify the people; but the Word of

the Lord said to him,
Not so at all, but, Go thou up and view the land of Kenaan, which I

have given to the children
of Israel for an inheritance. And thou shalt sleep in the mountain

to
which thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people, even thou, as Aharon thy
brother hath slept in the mountain of Omanos, and hath been gathered unto
his people. Mosheh at once opened his mouth in prayer, and said, Lord of all
the world, I entreat that I may not be as a man who had one only son, who
being in captivity, he went and redeemed him with great price; he taught him
wisdom and art, espoused him to a wife, planted for him a royal bower, builded
him a marriage house, prepared for him the bed, invited his companions, baked
his bread, slew his victims, and mixed his wine; yet, when the time came for
his son to make glad with his wife, and the guests were about to consecrate
the feast; then was that man required to go to the house of judgment, before
the king and be Punished with the judgment of death; neither would the delay
to execute his sentence that he might see the happiness of his son. So have
I laboured for this people; I have led them by Thy Word out of Mizraim, and
builded for this people; I have taught them Thy law builded for them the tabernacle
to Thy Name; but now that the time hath come to pass the Jordan, I am punished
with death! Let it please Thee to withhold fromme this sentence until I have passed the Jordan, to
see the good of Israel before I die. The Lord of the world answered him, and
said: Because thou didst prevaricate with My Word In the midst of the children
of Israel, at the Waters of Contention at Rekem in the desert of Zin, and
didst not sanctify Me among them; therefore thou mayest look over against
it, but shalt not enter into the land that I give unto the children of Israel.
[Jer. Because you were rebellios towards the Name of My Word, among the Beni
Israel, at the Waters of Contention in Rekem in the desert of Zin; forasmuch
as you did not sanctify Me in the midst of them, therefore thou mayest look
over against it, but shalt not enter into the land which I give to the children
of Israel.]